From the Good Murderer (first prize, Literature and Arts Newspaper) to the detective novel series that set a Vietnam Guinness record for length, won the Creative Award for Literature and Arts, and most recently, his work Overturning the Death Penalty was adapted by screenwriter Chau Tho into the film Female Lawyer... It can be seen that writer Lai Van Long chose the path of writing detective stories from the beginning and achieved success. Recently, the author who won the Ho Chi Minh City Creative Award had his novel adapted into the TV series Female Lawyer, which received a lot of attention from the public.
 |
| Writer Lai Van Long |
• JOURNALISTIC PROFESSION NOURISHES WRITING PROFESSION
• Writing for newspapers, and being a journalist for the Ho Chi Minh City Police Newspaper with crime and suspense topics can be considered a strength for detective story writers, but it also risks killing the romance that writers need. How do you balance this?
• When I first started working as a reporter for the Ho Chi Minh City Police Newspaper, many people were worried that I would become emotionally numb and lose my romanticism and imagination to write... I myself thought wrongly! Up to now, after 32 years, I am very grateful to journalism and my work at the Ho Chi Minh City Police Newspaper for giving me a "treasure" of knowledge and emotions to become the author of "Fire Files" and detective and crime novels such as: Saintess, Demi-human (unpublished)... works about history and society such as the novels: Holy Poem, Post-War Child, The Giant Tells Stories from the Grave...
Journalism “nurtures” the literary profession both figuratively and literally, and is not the “nemesis” of the literary profession. But all success must come from willpower, determination, passion, patience... in artistic work and have its own cultural background!
• From the novel Overturning the Death Penalty to the dozens of episode long TV series Female Lawyer, surely there will be many stories that the novel author wants to share?
• Around 1999, during a business trip to Binh Thuan with poet Thien Ha, we were reporters of the Ho Chi Minh City Police Newspaper, so we were provided with the investigation conclusion of the "Cashew Garden Mystery" to write an article promoting awareness of law compliance published in the Ho Chi Minh City Police Newspaper... Many years passed, one day I sat at the office reading the newspaper and was shocked when many newspapers published about the mistakes in the investigation, handling, and sentencing of the defendants in this case who had suffered unjust and unjust punishments. Thinking back to the previous article I wrote about this case, I felt really guilty and very sad, even though I had no fault in reporting the news according to the conclusion of the investigation agency. In Vietnam as well as in most countries, when reporting on a case, journalists must rely on information provided by the authorities (except in special cases, reporters conduct their own investigations, collect evidence...). At that time, I was assigned by my superiors to be in charge of the reporter and collaborator department in the Central and Central Highlands regions, so I proposed that the Editorial Board send two reporters to Binh Thuan to ask for the latest information and conclusions about the “Cashew Garden Mystery” and the exoneration, apology, and compensation for the wrongfully convicted defendants to publish in the Ho Chi Minh City Police Newspaper. However, the injustice of those 9 people, although lessened, still haunts and torments me...
In 2016, Ho Chi Minh City Police Newspaper cooperated with 24.Good Company, SENA Film Studio and a number of television stations to produce a 1,100-episode television series called Fire File, which received great attention from television audiences and the press. However, the series only aired 3 parts, 138 episodes and then stopped for many reasons. I persisted for another 4 years to complete the Fire File novel series, including part 5 - "Overturning the death sentence". This book series has been licensed by the People's Police Publishing House, and SBooks will publish it at the end of 2022. To date, Fire File has received many prestigious awards, such as: the "Golden Pen" award of the Ministry of Public Security in 2018; the award "Novel Contest on the topic For National Security and Peaceful Life" co-organized by the Ministry of Public Security and the Vietnam Writers Association 2017 - 2020; “Creation” award of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee 2023; Vietnam record 2022 for the longest crime novel series made in 30 years (1992 - 2022); “Green Star” award for the most favorite TV series of 2017 (film Secret Agent D9) in the series Fire Records...
• Why did you write a movie script but not adapt your own work with Overturning the Death Penalty?
• I have not received formal training in screenwriting, I only learned from my seniors who are People's Artists and Meritorious Artists during the 3 years of working on the film project "Fire Records", so I am not very confident. As for the novel Overturning the Death Penalty, the partner only bought the copyright and asked a very talented person, screenwriter Chau Tho, to adapt it into 35 episodes of the film "Female Lawyer". Whether it is a script or a novel, I am still happy and excited when the characters I created with passion and love appear on film. I love my characters so much, especially the female characters. I thank the talented and beautiful actors who made my characters sublime, beautiful, artistic and brought many positive messages to the wide audience of television dramas!
Writer Lai Van Long was born in 1964 in Da Lat City, his father's hometown is Thua Thien - Hue, his mother's hometown is Binh Dinh. He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy, Ho Chi Minh City University of Science in 1988, and has worked at the Ho Chi Minh City Police Newspaper since early 1992. He is a member of the Vietnam Writers Association and the Vietnam Journalists Association. After winning the First Prize of the 1990-1991 Literature and Arts Newspaper Short Story Contest with the work The Good Murderer, writer Lai Van Long continued to impress readers through his works: The Post-War Child, Secret Agent D9, Stone Emperor, Water Mechanism, The Road to Heaven is Far Away, The Robber Family, The Giant Who Leaves His Grave to Tell Stories... His crime novel series Fire File won the Ho Chi Minh City Creative Award and set a Vietnam Guinness Record for the longest crime novel series. |
• THOUSANDS OF PAGES OF HANDWRITTEN MANUSCRIPTS
• It is rumored that writer Lai Van Long does not write prose or scripts on a computer but remains faithful to handwriting. Why does he still choose to write by hand even though his works are up to thousands of pages?
• During my 36 years of writing, I have written about 20 books (novels and short story collections), and all of them were written with ink pen on paper like my predecessors a few hundred years ago. I used discarded A4 paper that was printed on one side. (If I buy new, white paper, I can't write any more, I don't know why?). I often write with a red ink pen on that one-sided printed paper. More than ten thousand pages of manuscripts are like that. When I have a full set of old paper and red ink pen like that, the emotions are very intense, sometimes I write up to 15, 17 pages in one night, writing until my hands and wrists go numb. My wife bought me a large screen computer and tried to teach me to write on the computer, but after half an hour I get bored, don't want to do it anymore, and take out paper and pen to write again. Until now, I still can't write on the computer. In just the last 20 years, my handwritten manuscripts have become about 1.2 m thick with more than ten thousand pages. I am very happy with this unique "fortune"!
Besides, I can work well wherever I go with just a few pieces of paper and a pen. Meanwhile, carrying a laptop is tiring, it needs to be maintained and has electricity to be used. In 1990, when I first came to Ho Chi Minh City from Lam Dong, there were many difficulties, I had to go to the city post office, parks, libraries... to sit and write among the noisy people. My first short stories were all written in such harsh environments and conditions. Later, being able to sit and write at my own, quiet desk, that was... paradise...
And I didn't want to change that paradise so I just... wrote with a pen, red ink on paper. Gradually it became a conditioned reflex, unchangeable!
• Vietnamese detective stories appeared nearly 100 years ago but are still rarely mentioned today. As someone who has persistently followed this topic, why do you think so?
• Detective and crime stories are very difficult to write because they require historical, professional, legal, political factors... in many situations. Therefore, few authors have the qualifications, passion, and emotions to pursue them. In recent years, the functional agencies of the Ministry of Public Security such as: Security Television, People's Public Security Publishing House, the Department of Communications and a number of professional departments and branches in the People's Public Security force have often coordinated with the Literature and Arts Associations to organize writing camps, literary competitions, and special topics on the image of the People's Public Security soldier, on the Movement to Protect National Security and Peaceful Life, on reformation and educational and propaganda work on people who have made mistakes... All of these are making the genre of detective and crime literature and art increasingly present strongly, impressively, and popularly in social life through high-quality works. That makes us believe more in the present and bright future of the genre of detective and crime literature and art.
• You once shared that you were dumped when you were in your 20s because you asked your girlfriend to support you for a few years after marriage to write and if you were successful, you would support her for the rest of her life. So how did your wife accept a husband with great literary dreams?
• I am lucky to have a talented wife and a happy family, so for the past 30 years, I have devoted myself to journalism and literary work. My wife works in the medical field and takes care of everything in the family, thanks to which I have both my "mind" and "legs" free to pursue my dreams. Writing a novel or short story is a dream for me. I am always happy with such dreams, even though it is quite hard and I have to "sacrifice" other pleasures such as: drinking coffee with friends, going out, watching movies, listening to music, watching football...
• Thanks for sharing!
Source: http://baolamdong.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/202406/nha-van-lai-van-long-toi-rat-vui-voi-gia-tai-doc-dao-fe62b6c/
Comment (0)